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Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS) by jp (Apr 27th, 2026 at 22:04:52) |
I got to that point where I hit a monster/boss that just wasn't that much fun, and then I got a bit lost in terms of where to continue making progress, and the backtracking started to get a bit tiresome...as I explored and searched for different paths. So, time to bail!
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Legacy of Ys Books I & II (DS) by jp (Apr 27th, 2026 at 22:03:27) |
Can you believe that I capped out on character level? I hit level 24, with plenty of game to go (I checked a guide, though I had reached the last 20% or so) and that's it. No more levels. It was a bit of a disappointment to be honest, and I also started to tire of having to backtrack all over the place to talk to different characters and so on. It was fun, and surprising to me in many ways, it's an action RPG with real-time combat, but no real challenge or interest in the combat - limited items and gear, no significant shopping or upgrading...there's boss fights (which are much harder than the regular game), but there wasn't much there to continue to keep my interest. So, I've decided to bail.
I did also spend some time on the Wikipedia page and it looks like the game has been re-released a million times across different formats, and rebundled with new content, and stuff touched up and more. I'm kind of surprised because I wasn't all that impressed to be fair. As in, the game was fun and I enjoyed it for a bit, but I'm not entirely sure that it merits THAT much attention in the re-releases? Maybe I'm missing something and this game really resonated strongly with lots of people?
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Legacy of Ys Books I & II (DS) by jp (Apr 26th, 2026 at 10:06:39) |
I need to look up more info on this. I had assumed it was a bundle of the two first Ys games, but upon starting the first one (Book I), the 3D graphics make it seem like it's a newer game? So I'm really curious what the backstory here is...
It started out pretty frustrating - because I wandered into a field outside of town and died immediately. I had to start over which was a drag - lots of text to skip past, and died again! Sigh. I eventually figured out how to save your game, which helped. So, I decided to then book it, dodge enemies and made it to a city! Here I bought a sword and some armor...and figured I wouldn't die again immediately but I did! It turns out I hadn't figured out how to equip the items and that solved EVERYTHING.
I've been playing since, and the game's quite interesting in its camera perspective - it's a very unusual sort of 3D isometric view, but it's not at an angle, but rather it's sort of straight? (like vertical/top to bottom). It's a weird perspective because there's lots that gets occluded (if you walk down towards a wall, the wall blocks you from seeing what's close to it when you come from the top part of the scree). I mean, it makes sense spatially, but it's a weird perspective in a game - you also cannot rotate the camera AFAIK.
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Pokémon TCG Pocket (iPd) by jp (Apr 26th, 2026 at 09:59:12) |
I'm still "playing" - I stopped going for the competitive ladder mostly because I was playing the same deck all the time, didn't have the cards for a new competitive deck and...well, it's gotten a bit boring.
That being said, the collecting part is still fun and there's a new set coming out so we'll see how excited I get. I've been opening packs from older sets hoping to finish sets from which I'm still missing a bunch of cards. No real luck so far. Sigh.
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Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (DS) by jp (Apr 26th, 2026 at 09:51:07) |
I've since played some 15 runs or so, I seem to get farther than ever on every other one or so. There's some cool and interesting things here, but also the randomness of the rogue aspects both works and doesn't. I've decided to stop playing mostly because it's getting a bit tiresome when you have to go over the same things such that it starts to feel like busywork. For example, talking to the guy at the bar in the first area always nets you a rice ball (yay!), but it's a bit of a drag to have to go through all the conversation and such over, and over again.
Perhaps the feature I've come to appreciate the most is a shack that has different "puzzle" levels for you to solve - you're supposed to do them one at a time (smart design choice, because you get a reward from each) and each time you do one you get reset to level 1 with no items, you also lose any progress you may have made (including items) inside each puzzle. But, you get a reward when you complete them successfully. The puzzle levels are smart because they act as a tutorial of sorts, but because you only really want to do them one at a time, it's a slow burn tutorial that shows you the diversity of items and what they can do. I've done 12 or so...with more than half left to go. Some might require using a certain staff, or require you move around diagonally. Stuff like that. So, I've had to use items I hadn't considered before (I tend to be a cheapskate when it comes to items, use only in emergencies!) and now I know how they work without having to "waste" them while adventuring.
Once unlocked, companions might appear in later areas - and join your team! I made some progress with a 2nd one (I wonder if you can have more than one?) and I think it's neat how they operate semi-independently. They'll sometimes run off chasing a monster. I haven't quite grasped how their health works because they'll sometimes disappear (dead?) and I lose them for the rest of the adventure which is a bit of a shame.
In all, it's been fun to explore and playthrough. Runs are longer than I'd like and how that I unlocked the special jar that lets you combine items...I REALLY get the feeling that the game wants you to meta-strategize to cheese. In other words, play lots of runs to boost items to then combine them, and do this over and over again until you feel confident you can go. Which is interesting, and risky.
Finally, at this point I'm also missing out on a neat feature wherein other players can "rescue" you if/when you die. But it's a connectivity thing - other people need to play and you can help each other out that way. At this point, since the game is way old, it's like there's zero change of that working for me... which makes me a bit sad, right? I mean, playing this with some friends would be really neat in that context.
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GameLog hopes to be a site where gamers such as yourself keep track of the games that
they are currently playing. A GameLog is basically a record of a game you started playing. If it's open,
you still consider yourself to be playing the game. If it's closed, you finished playing the game. (it doesn't matter
if you got bored, frustrated,etc.) You can also attach short comments to each of your games or even maintain a diary (with more detailed entries)
for that game. Call it a weblog of game playing activity if you will.
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2323 registered gamers and 3356 games. 7893 GameLogs with 13386 journal entries. 5126 games are currently being played.
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Reservoir Dogs (XBX) by Mmalnox |
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most recent entry: Wednesday 5 March, 2008
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Summary: Reservoir Dogs is a third person shooter game based on the film by Quentin Tarantino. The player is trained to rob a bank.
GamePlayI: This game had potentially good ideas but the structure was no good. I attempted to play as long as I could but the game was pretty horrible. The fact is Reservoir Dogs should have stayed a film. The beginning of the game is a sequence of three training sessions before the actual game begins. The player can skip the training and go directly to the game but I chose to do the training. The training sessions allow the player to get familiar with the controls particular to this game. The game is based on the film's narrative. You are being trained to rob a bank. In the training you learn that how to crouch and roll, how to capture a hostage, how to neutralize security guards and cops, and how to get a banker to open a safe. These are great ideas but overall the actual game play was not interesting. Once the training sessions are done, the first level begins inside the bank and the player must get downstairs and out the front doors using the tactics from the training. You are given weapons and the control layout is basic to a third-person shooter. You can aim, reload and fire. The player can also hit the Left trigger to lock onto the target. There is also an adrenaline scale, kind of like your health. There is a button which the player can go into Bullet Festival mode and this just slows everything down (slow motion) and you shoot as many people as you can, then there is a cut scene showing everyone you shot falling down dramatically. There were also too many cut scenes. The player can skip them, but even so, there were too many. I think this game depended purely on the film and the cut scenes of the film to build a narrative for the game, but it made the game boring and not fun to play. Reservoir Dogs is one of my favorite movies and playing video games is one of my favorite things to do, but the two did not fit well together.
Game PlayII: I had to force myself to play a second session because I really did not want to. As the game proceeded the levels were not linear at all and did not really relate. In one level you have to race against one of your friends and the player learns how to shoot people from the car. Again, the linear structure, the objectives, and the game play was all just depending on the popularity of the film, but the game itself was not created with good and unique challenges. There was not a defined and clear goal. There were not too many rewards and the mechanics were not very appealing, just mediocre. Overall as I played I was not interested in progressing through the game and I cannot think of anything about the game that makes it unique and interesting. Again, I could tell that the ideas behind the game had some potential, but the game reflected the film by placing too many cut scenes and then the player just shoots people. The cut scenes were more interesting then the actual game play itself.
Design: The graphics of this game were also pretty simple. I enjoyed the camera angles and movement very much, there was great movement while the player mobilizes around the game. The settings were diverse, which semi-made up for the horrible game construction. The graphics were overall really good, but this proves that the graphics do not make game play good at all. I was just staring at the cool graphics and movement of the AI, but the game play was boring. Also. the warehouse was accurate to the film which was cool. In the film the warehouse is pretty much where the entire film happens, and the graphics of this area were set perfectly to look like the actual warehouse. The characters looked like the actors, but again this all goes back to what was wrong with this game. They had the graphics and movement of a third person shooter, but with no good game goals, challenges, conflict or linear progression.
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